Village at Sandhill developer Alan Kahn has been tapped to breathe new life into Midtown at Forest Acres. And his first act will be to give it back its old name - Richland Mall.

Second -- Kroger at Sparkleberry Square is in trouble:

Kroger on Two Notch Road at Sparkleberry Lane is no longer open 24 hours. The store reduced its hours last week to 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. Other stores in the Columbia area will remain open 24 hours. The chain reduced hours at some stores so they could continue to offer low prices during a difficult economy, a spokesman said.

As to the first, I, for one, have always refused to call the place either "Richland Fashion Mall" or "Midtown at Forest Acres", so I'm glad to see the "classic" name back. Kahn certainly has an uphill slog ahead there though. Given that even the new Village at Sandhill has had a lot of churn and ongoing vacancies, an older, already perceived as failing (because, it is failing) mall is going to have even more trouble luring tenants. I guess the obvious thing to try, as I think Sky City has suggested, would be to try to lure Macy's from Columbia Mall to the vacant Parisian or Bonwit Teller slot. Of course that would put paid to Columbia Mall so I'd rather something else happen..

As to the second, I think that after this, this, this, this, and this, I can say that Sparkleberry Square is "troubled". Kroger cutting its hours certainly does nothing to reverse that perception. For a restaurant, it's fatal sign #1. I don't think the Kroger will close, but I'll bet they're nostalgic for the rents at Decker Mall about now.

8 Responses to 'Two Interesting Items in The State Today'

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I think the Kroger they are talking about is the one facing Two Notch Road, near the intersection of Sparkleberry. As far as I know, there is no Kroger in Sparkleberry Square proper.

Too bad they are reducing the hours. I shop at that one all the time. Although I can't remember the last time I was there after 1 a.m., it was nice to know that if I needed to get something late at night or after work, that I could go there.

You know you're out of the family loop (the proverbial black sheep) when you have to read a blog to find out that your cousin and his business partner now own the Midtown At Forest Acres property. The only thing more astounding than finding out about this property purchase from reading a blog would be the small price they paid for it. Are you kidding me, $4.4 million? That number would be about the mid-range for residential property in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, for instance.

Of course you know for a stone cold fact that I'm going to hit my cousin up for some photographs of the old mall the next time I see him. I know this is crazy dreaming, but I'm hoping there is some sort of photo archive that has been handed down through the years to each of the new owners, perhaps in some kind of ceremonial fashion, complete with french horn flourishes and draping banners.

It's a pleasure to note that they had the good sense to change the name back to the ONLY name most people from around here will ever acknowledge. I wish them well.

I'm really hoping they are able to do something with Richland Mall. I think it has great potential for those of us who live downtown and don't want to drive far to do shopping. Maybe major renovation would help it cause those stores that have outside-access seem to do better than anything inside. *fingers crossed*

So I just thought of this post and while the Sparkleberry Square Kroger is still humming along, the Kroger at 3403 Forest Drive has (in recent months) ceased being open 24 hours and is typically opened 6 AM to 1 AM...

An employee at the Irmo Kroger, which according to him is still the highest producing store they have in the Columbia area, Kroger invested so much money in the Killian Rd. marketplace that they stretched themselves pretty thin. The revenue from the Killian Rd. store is not what they thought it would be and the other stores, except for Irmo, are feeling the pinch.